The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Supreet Singh surprises Vikas Jangra

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Thursday, Jul 19, 2007
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Sport - Squash

Supreet Singh surprises Vikas Jangra

S.R. Suryanarayan

SQUASH / Balamurugan leads four others from TN to the quarterfinals

— Photo: R. Ragu

CONCENTRATION PERSONIFIED: Supreet Singh (left), who beat Vikas Jangra, makes a return in the ICL-National squash championship in Chennai on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: Supreet Singh used to be a regular on the domestic circuit before he shifted base to Connecticut (USA) this January for his undergraduate studies.

The Maharashtra player flew in recently to have a feel of the squash scene, and on Wednesday he was the cynosure of all eyes with his straight-game win over a fighting Vikas Jangra in a pre-quarterfinal match in the ICL-National championship.

In terms of the seeding, the result was an upset as Supreet is in the 9/16 bracket, while Jangra is 5/8.

It is a different matter that he will be facing top seed and title-favourite Saurav Ghosal next, but as he put it, “at least I will have the pleasure of taking on a great player. Besides, the match against Vikas has toned me up for the tougher match.”

Even if the scoreline does not suggest that it was a touch and go match — replete with rallies. Had Jangra, who works in the Indian Navy, managed to grab the third game, the tale could have been different. Jangra had the chance, thrice saving match points but a ‘stroke’ finally ended his struggle. The sweat-dripping Surpeet agreed: “well, I was tiring and going into the fourth game could have turned things around.”

However, the inability to finish off early was what undid Aprajitha Balamurukan, a Church Park Convent School student, who was seeded 5/8. A pupil of the ICL academy, Aparajitha has the skills, shows good deception with her returns, but against a swift mover like Dheeya Somaiya from Indore, who is seeded 9/16, she needed to be a lot sharper on the feet. Leading two games to one, Aprajitha let her rival off the hook with a series of unforced errors and the Daly College girl happily grabbed the opportunity.

Late in the day, little Ramit Tandon, just 14 years, gave the higher-ranked and over five years older Naresh Kumar a scare, by stretching the contest to five games. Though Ramit ran out of steam finally, he grabbed attention as long as he was on court. There was a lot to cheer for the host in the professional category where Balamurugan, seeking his record 10th title, led four others from the State to the quarterfinal stage.

The results: Men’s pre-quarterfinals: Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Amjad Khan (ND) 9-2, 9-1, 9-0; Supreet Singh (MAH) bt Vikas Jangra (SER) 9-3, 9-6, 10-9; Parth Sharma (TN) bt . Shakti Singh (SER) 9-3, 9-2, 9-6; Harinder Pal Singh (TN) bt Sohil Kapoor (ND) 9-7, 9-1, 9-7; Siddharath Suchde (MAH) bt Laxman Joshi (MAH) 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Ayappan Parthiban (TN) bt Karan Malik (TN) 8-10, 9-4, 9-6, 9-4; Naresh Kumar (TN) bt Ramit Tandon (TN) 5-9, 9-4, 9-1, 3-9, 9-2; Gaurav Nandrajog (ND) bt Ravi Dixit (TN) 9-6, 9-0, 9-7.

Round 3: Saurav Ghosal bt Pratik Baweja (RAJ) 9-0, 9-0, 9-2; Amjad Khan bt Girish Sawlani (TN) 9-3, 9-2, 9-2; Supreet Singh bt Nakul Lodha (RAJ) 9-4, 9-3, 9-2; Vikas Jangra bt Ishan (CHG) 9-0, 9-2, 9-2; Parth Sharma bt Varun Prakash (N D) 9-1, 9-0, 9-2; Shakti Singh bt Dharmesh (RAJ) 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; Sohil Kapoor bt Parmeet Singh (TN) 7-9, 9-3, 9-2, 10-8; Harinder Pal Singh bt Cyrus Poncha (TN) 9-6, 9-0, 9-0; Siddharath Suchde bt Raghav Mahajan (MP) 9-0, 9-0, 9-0;Laxman Joshi bt Ravneet Singh (MAH) 9-4, 9-0, 9-3; Karan Malik bt Sidharth Sharma (ND) 9-6, 9-0, 9-2; Ayappan Parthiban bt Harish Passi (NDA) 9-0, 9-1, 9-0; Naresh Kumar bt Sandeep Singh (SER) 9-3, 9-5, 9-4; Ramit Tandon bt Varun Kataruaka (WB) 9-5, 9-0, 9-2; Ravi Dixit bt Abhilaksiya (CHG) 9-2, 9-2, 9-1; Gaurav Nandrajog bt Piyush Saraf (TN) 9-1, 9-0, 9-0.

Women:

Pre-quarterfinals: Joshna Chinappa (TN) bt Shruti Dugar (TN) 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Dheeya Somaiya (MP) bt Aprajitha Balamurukan (TN) 9-5, 4-9, 3-9, 9-3, 9-3; Harita O. (TN) bt Swarnalatha (UP) 9-2, 9-3, 9-0; Surbhi Mishra (RAJ) w/o Lakshya (T N) Anwesha (TN) bt V. Rangashree (TN) 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Komal Sharma (TN) bt Nitisha S. (WB) 9-1, 9-0, 9-1; Anaka Alankamony (TN) bt Swati M. (MP) 9-3, 9-1, 9-3; Dipika Pallikal (TN) bt R. Akashara (TN) 9-0, 9-0, 9-1.

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